The present invention pertains to a household device for the cracking of a variety of nuts.
The known prior art discloses many types of nutcracking machines, most of which appear to be suitable for commercial use by reason of their size and complexity. Such devices may include drums having irregular surfaces thereon which cooperate with a radially offset wall surface to compress a nut therebetween ultimately cracking the nut shell. U.S. Pat. No. 1,834,347 discloses a rotary cylinder which acts conjointly with a stationary adjustable barrier to urge nuts through a restricted area resulting in shell fracture. The barrier is adjustable relative the periphery of the rotary cylinder to enable use of the machine for cracking different varieties of nuts. The rotary member has an irregular periphery with projections thereon to promote frictional contact with the nut shell.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,999,569 discloses a rotary drum with lengthwise extending ribs which coact with a stationary housing to progressively separate and extrude a bean "meat" from the bean shell portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,543,537 discloses a nutcracking machine having a first drum rotatable about a fixed axis and a second or outer drum disposed thereabout with the outer drum being adjustable to provide a variable gap between the drum peripheries to enable the cracking of different varieties of nuts. Both drums are provided with irregular surfaces for positive shell contact.